Re: [Harp-L] Mustang Sally (cover tunes)

[Bradford Trainham <btrainham@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

And of "Jesus Just Left Chicago"...  I do an acoustic version with a c
diatonic (cross-harped)  and a  12-string, very heavily borrowing from
"Louisiana Blues" right down to the Muddy Waters vocal stylings that
seems to work well enough. 
In confessing all this, I'm not at all intending to discount
purism/purity, but I've had the most gratifying musical experiences
when I subjugated all technical considerations to those of
feeling/intangible energy.  
When I got to that place, I found I could fully engage an audience
without "benefit" of recreational drugs and I could somehow tap in to
that yes, I'd indeed spent a lot of time listening to some very
specific styles that didn't get much exposure except in certain
places. 
I know that's all very subjective, but while I'm on that subjective
subject, I guess I realized that if I can get into it and present
myself as loving it, the audience seems to pick up on that.
All that being said, I love discovering the less-often-played/heard
stuff as in the "pre-war harmonica" thread.
Brad Trainham
On Thu, 10 May 2007 10:02:26 -0400 (EDT), you wrote:

> 
>What's up with  that Mustang Sally stuff? I really enjoy playin' that tune. 
>Does that mean I  'aint a serious harp player? OOO no, I just realized that I 
>do it on the sax  too.
>    My motto is, "if it feels good, play it!!"
>       I've been playing some kind of  instrument or another on Mustang Sally 
>since 1969. I still get into the groove  of it, (when the band is tight) and 
>I never play the same thing twice on my lead  unless I do the lead on the sax. 
>I always see how much funk I can get away with  in between the bass player 
>and the drummer. It's always fun to do. One of my  favorite things to do when 
>playin' cover tunes is to play harp on songs that  don't traditionally have harp 
>on them at all. For example "Jesus Just  Left Chicago" and "La Grange", or 
>"Honky Tonk Women." I'd much rather play  those songs then "Road House Blues" or 
>"Long Train Runnin".Yea, those tunes have  been done to death, but if they's 
>a payin," then I'm a playin." So I'm very much  with you when you state what's 
>below my post.
>         I guess "serious" is a  subjective opinion. I figure "serious" is 
>somebody that plays with an all out,  play from your heart on every song that 
>you play kind of harp player. Just  me.
>                Randy
>           BiscuitBoy  Blues
> 
> 
>In a message dated 5/10/2007 8:13:27 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
>wlb@xxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
>
>Brad,
>
>Please don't apologize for playing anything. I think it is  way cool that you
>have the talent to pull off the Tull riffs and that your  band is open mined
>enough to let you do it. One of my biggest beefs is this  concept that
>certain things are below the "serious" harp player's radar  screen. A great
>example is the ridiculous argument that playing Mustang  Sally is a disgrace
>for "serious" players. We are entertainers first and  foremost in 99% of the
>gigs we play. My guess is that when you play Tull on  harp eyes get wider and
>people dig the bad-ass sound that your tin-sandwich  puts out. Rock on
>brother, rock on
>
>
> 
>
>
>
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